work. She rubbed the glass surface vigorously with both hands, waited a few seconds, and looked again. Nothing.
Mara grumbled under her breath. Elohim had spoken to her before. Why didn’t he want to speak now? Was he just too busy? Or maybe she did something wrong, and he was mad at her.
She pushed on the top of her head with her hand. There was just too much to think about! It felt like her brains were about to explode!
She laid her head on her dress and sighed. For some reason, she still wanted to hold the egg close, so she pressed its cool glass against her cheek and nuzzled her dirty pillow. As her mind wandered toward sleep, a low voice whispered in her ear. It was so soothing, she didn’t want to wake up to see if it was real. If it was a dream, she wanted to keep dreaming, imagining that a gentle stranger cared enough to speak to her.
“Sapphira Adi,” it sang. “You are Sapphira Adi, a gem as beautiful as the clearest sky, and your value to me is greater than any gem in all the world . . . Sapphira Adi.”
Mara smiled and whispered, “Sapphira Adi,” then drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 11
ELOHIM’S BARD
Sapphira closed the scroll and slid it to the edge of the table, pushing aside an embryo jar to make room. With Mardon away for so long, there was no one to dispose of the weaker plants, and she didn’t have the heart to do it herself, so the worktable had become crowded with the new genetic combinations she had tried over the last hundred or so days. She set her chin on her hands and sighed. All she really wanted to do was to climb into the tower shelves and read their literary treasures, but Morgan kept making excuses and giving her more work to do.
In a sarcastic tone, Sapphira mocked her mistress’s harsh voice. “Not until I find the scroll I’m looking for. If you don’t have enough work to do, perhaps you would like to return to the trenches.”
She blew out a loud sigh. At least she had one scroll to look at, but only a few minutes each night to read it. She couldn’t risk falling asleep before putting it back in its hiding place, a narrow hole in her mattress. But those few moments of drinking in Enoch’s mysterious story were worth the risk, even though she couldn’t understand most of it.
A soft, rustling sound made her turn her head. Her spawn had awakened, yawning and smacking his lips. Grabbing a tin full of plant food and her piece of graphite, she shuffled over to Yereq’s chamber and knelt in front of him. “Hungry?”
Yereq gave her a short nod and grinned.
She showed him the hunk of graphite. “Do you want this?”
The little pod’s brow lowered, and a tiny tongue protruded from his lips.
She laughed and dipped her finger in the food. “How about this?”
Yereq pulled his tongue back in and opened his mouth.
Sapphira stuffed the damp morsel in. “I think you’re already smarter than Nabal was. I’m not even going to tell you what I saw him eating once.” As she dipped her finger in again, the control room door opened, and a little girl peeked in.
Sapphira jumped up, leaving the food tin on the floor. “Paili! You’re not supposed to be in here!”
Paili waved her hand frantically. “Come now!”
Sapphira ran to the door and escorted her out, spinning the wheel behind her. “How did you unlock it?”
She pointed at the wheel. “I watch you.”
Sapphira set her hands on her hips. “Okay, what did you want?”
Paili waved her hand. “Come!” She picked up a lantern next to the door and ran into the tunnel. Sapphira chased her, following the bouncing ball of light through the darkness. Paili turned into a side room, and when Sapphira caught up, she leaned against the doorway to catch her breath. Inside, Paili set the lantern on a flat stone table that dominated the center of the small chamber. Atop the table, various breads, fruits, and vegetables were spread from end to end. The aroma of stew drifted through the room, wafting from a huge pot dangling over an open floor vent against the wall.
Paili stirred the pot with a ladle nearly as long as she was tall, and the light from the magma stream underneath the kitchen washed her face in an orange glow. “I cook,” Paili said. She skipped over to